GENERALSHIP
by denebtenoh
Summary: An elite force in Eos, created under the guidance of a Demigoddess. But when the divine blood is removed from her, and she s left with an almost human, crimson blood, there might be complications. A human heart for a human soul.


GENERALSHIP

"A summon, you mean? You´ll have an Astral doing the job?" The beautiful Oracle asked, as a delicate eyebrow rose in disbelief.

"Not a summon, per se, but a Demigoddess, a younger one," Gentiana answered the Tenebrae Princess, trying to diminish her worries with a wave of her hand, "that is, if living a millennia can be considered young."

"A lifetime of millennia and she´s considered young?" Lunafreya´s blue eyes opened wide at the revelation.

Gentiana chuckled lightly. "Yes. Remember gods and summons measure our lives in the universe, by eons; centuries are mere seconds for us."

"But, if she´s a Demigoddess, what would make you believe she will help us in such a simple choir. I´m sure she has a lot more important, and better things to do."

"Well," the High Messenger gave her a lopsided smile, and a playful wink at the woman´s hesitation, "she might not come at will. But we summons are bound to protection and collaboration to the Oracle and the True King, so it will be rather easy to convince her to do so."

Lunafreya stood up and walked towards the high glass doors, thoughtful. "You´ll have a Goddess doing the work of a simple man."

"A young Demigoddess." She clarified, as if the statement would persuade, per se, the worrisome princess.

"I don´t know, Gentiana, I´m not quite convinced of offending a Goddess, either young or old. She could still punish us, you know?"

Lunafreya was impressed to meet this side of her childhood friend. Gentiana was always serious, cold and distant to everyone except to her (and maybe Noctis), and all business, her attitude always giving no room for denial nor hesitation, but there were times when she met her funny, childish and teasing personality. She actually liked it whenever Gentiana was like this. But today, she had been more teasing than ever. It was like she was more than eager to tease this Goddess they were talking about.

The dark-haired woman dismissed the young woman´s worries with a wave of her hand.

"Fret not, she won´t be offended, I can assure you. Besides, she already adores humankind, hasn´t lost her own humanity in spite of everything and all the time spent. And to be quite honest, I´m actually surprised at that."

Lunafreya opened her eyes wide. "You mean to tell me you Gods were humans once?"

Gentiana smiled at her. Of course the Princess would pay ears to such statement. "Not all of us, just a few, and sometimes just a few remember. Those humans chosen to be Demigods usually are stripped of their humanity in order to do so. But not her. No matter how much is thrown at her, nor for how long, this Demigoddess we´re talking about still protects humanity at the cost of everything, sometimes at the cost of her own pain."

"How come I had never heard of her?"

"Maybe you have."

Gentiana spoke cryptically, and while she did so, she gave a step back, the site she was in suddenly illuminated by a blinding light, only to be replaced by a whirlwind of feathers.

"Come forth, Warrior Goddess. We need to speak to you."

In front of Lunafreya a woman materialized, a woman taller than her, with lean body and rose colored hair she had never seen before; the goddess was beyond beautiful, with features as if chiseled by a master artist, and appeared dressed in a silver armor with a half skirt made of feathers on her left hip. The armor and her skin gave a faint divine glow, but her eyes were the most prominent feature. Her eyelashes were long, beautiful, and her baby blue irises held a fire, a determination that made Lunafreya´s heart tremble. This wasn´t a woman, that was for certain: she was a full Goddess on her own right. No matter how hard she looked, nor for how long, the Oracle just couldn´t find the evidence for Gentiana to call this Goddess demi at all.

"You called, Gentiana?"

The voice of the Goddess was soft, husky, raspy, almost like a whisper, but full of command. Luna could easily see someone cowering under her voice. She could say she certainly would… or did.

The addressed woman gave a step forward, all too eager to greet the new arrival.

"Nice to see you again, Lightning. This here is Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Crown Princess of Tenebra and Eos´s Oracle. She´s the one responsible for the interchange of messages in between humankind and the godly world."

The icy blue eyes of the Goddess looked intently at Luna, not with contempt or the like, but rather somehow evaluating her. The tall woman gave a step towards her (making the princess almost give a step backwards) and bowed respectfully at the Oracle.

"It´s a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess." Her voice seemed void of emotion, but Luna realized it held a sense of duty behind it. She curtseyed at the Goddess, overwhelmed by her presence.

"The honor is all mine, Warrior Goddess. I´m sorry to disturb you for such trivial matters."

"Nonsense, child, Lightning is happy to come out of her divine duties in order to help us, right?" Gentiana, so strange for her, gave the tall woman a cat-like smile, and Lightning frowned, but said nothing for a moment that stretched out in eternity. Her silence gave Luna the chills.

"What is it that you want me doing now, Gentiana?"

The brunette opened her eyes to appraise the Demigoddess, walking slowly around her; as she passed by Lightning´s back, her presence sent shivers down the pinkette´s spine, but she suppressed them, her slight distress only showing by the way she closed her eyes, slowly, as if collecting her wits by the mere action.

"You shouldn´t feel so worked up, Lightning. You already know we´re bound to help them…"

"But we are not forced to. And it would seem to me that I´m amusing you more than helping the Oracle, am I wrong?" Lightning turned her steel glare towards the brunette, but the woman´s smile only grew wider at witnessing a flustering Lightning.

"We-we understand if you can´t help us, dear Goddess, it´s nothing that much important anyways." Luna tried to diminish the building up tension in between the two goddesses, but Gentiana didn´t let her.

"That´s rubbish, Luna; you well know in my opinion it´s a matter of the uttermost importance." Gentiana wouldn´t let the matter go, and took the Goddess´s hand, an action that startled the tall woman. "C´mon, Lightning; alright, I´ll admit it might seem like a trivial cause indeed, but one which I´m sure you´ll find refreshing."

Lightning retrieved her hand, somewhat upset by the touch, and gave a step forward, as if threatening the brunette, taking advantage of her taller structure.

"You very well know I don´t like it when people touch me without my permission."

But instead of cowering, Gentiana raised her chin high, meeting her stare full force, a challenging attitude on her stand in spite of the difference in height.

"And what are you going to do, girl? Punish me? I want to see you trying."

Another step forward, and their noses where almost touching. "Don´t tempt me, Shiva, you well know I´m dying to do so."

Gentiana smiled at the threat, but knew better. Lightning would never lay a hand on her, because she knew the woman respected her, even when she had grown tired of her teasing. But the raven-haired Astral was wise enough to know when enough was enough, so she placed her palm upon the silver chest and lightly pushed, forcing Lightning to return to her place.

"At ease, ex-soldier girl, I only want what´s best for the world."

Lightning huffed, but the words had made their effect of deflating an infuriated pinkette, if only a little.

"You know well I…"

"Oh, stop it, Farron!" At the mention of her former last name, the tall Goddess grew motionless, an action that Gentiana had been expecting. Now that she had the woman´s full attention, the raven-haired Goddess attacked with the best she had against the pinkette. And it was to call her bluff. "You well know you´re dying to get your hands dirty again. Too much solitude would get in anyone´s nerves, and it´s doing it to you. So stop being so stubborn and give the job a chance. I can assure you you´ll find it satisfying."

"Are you speaking as the Astral? Or as the High Messenger?"

This time, Gentiana´s eyes bore into Lightning´s. "I´m speaking like the friend who taught you everything she knows about being a Goddess."

Her green eyes were piercing, locked in azure ones, as if forcing the woman to understand that the issue was to be left alone. That she was right.

Lightning knew that look, had known it for centuries, and knew, too, it almost always meant the woman was right indeed. So, said pinkette sighed, turned around and fixed her eyes on the princess, with such intensity that Luna this time did give the step backwards.

"Tell me, Oracle. What is it that someone like me can do for you?"

After all the display she had witnessed, Luna felt overwhelmed, but as the Oracle, she knew she had to recover. If this was how it was going to be, she had to be strong for the world, she knew she could never show weakness, especially not in front of neither of them; they needed to know she was strong enough to take the challenge, in order to convince them of helping her.

"Emh… well… we want to create an especial elite force for the protection of royalty, especially mine and the Future King to come, given the confrontation that has been shown to me, in my visions. If we don´t succeed, not only Lucis will be destroyed, but the whole world will be condemned to darkness and despair."

Luna hesitated under the intense stare of the tall Warrior, especially when Lightning tilted her head sideways, as if completely lost on the Oracle´s true intentions.

"And?"

"And… well…" Lightning didn´t really mean to be rude, though she had never learned to have tact either, but Luna didn't know that, so she misinterpreted the harsh tone. "We… I mean I-I need you to… well, if you´re so merciful to… and it´s not much nuisance to you… of curse…" Gentiana didn´t know whether to roll her eyes or just giggle over the princess´s predicament.

A delicate eyebrow rose once she took a hold of the woman´s unspoken words. "And you want me to train them? To make mere men the elite force you need?"

"Yes!" In spite of the astonishment in Lightning´s voice, Luna was still thankful for the seconds the response gave her. It gave her the necessary time to collect her wits. "Yes, I want you to make them as magnificent as I´ve heard you were… are!"

The pinkette´s eyes flashed with something akin to an emotion, though Luna couldn´t tell which. The tall woman gave another step forward towards the princess, but her eyes were softer this time, and Luna found she could hold her feet now.

"Are you aware of your future? Do you know that it holds a promise of death to you? And to your King?"

Luna looked down, sadness in her countenance, but when she met the Goddess´s eyes once more, her own were full of determination.

"I know, and I assure you it´s a future I´m not looking forward to, but one that I´ve accepted already if it means we get to secure the world´s survival." As she spoke, Luna´s determination returned to her full force. "I know I won´t live enough to see it, but I accept my destiny, and I´m willing to die if needed. But for that, I must remain alive until the appointed day, so, we need the power of these forces, to prevent the Future King´s early demise, and to stall the advances of the Dark Forces." Luna sighed, sadness reaching her features once more. "My King is old now, he won´t be able to stand by himself in the war to come. We need this warrior I dreamt about to help him. To help me."

"The future of the world." The Goddess whispered, and Luna almost missed her words. After a moment of contemplation, the Warrior Goddess turned to address her comrade, as Gentiana kept her eyes fixed on her face. "After all I´ve done, you´re still going to make me save the world again."

But in spite of the accusation, the Astral´s countenance remained stoic. "You know you won´t say no. As long as mankind needs you, you know you´ll come back and fight whatever fight is needed. You said it yourself. You chose that destiny for you. You should be happy that, at least, you got to choose. Not everyone has been as lucky as you."

"I´ve done my part."

Gentiana´s voice became harder. "You´ve done what you wanted to, not always being the obedient servant; although rest assured you won´t be anyone´s servant anymore, now that you´re a Demigoddess. You have a choice now, you can say no to Lunafreya if you will and let this world sink into darkness. What is it to you, anyways? It´s not your world after all."

Lightning hesitated at her words, but after a dramatic pause, Gentiana pushed herself off from the furniture she´d been leaning on, and brought her face once again close to the Warrior´s, as if daring her. "But you and I know well you´ll do it anyways, because you really can´t know which of the world´s you see, she´ll choose to be reborn. And there´s no chance you´ll let a world that holds such promise, whither away in darkness." The pinkette glared at her words, but she could not deny any of the reasons the woman had spoken, so she just broke eye contact, her sight lost in the beautiful landscape beyond the windows, her thoughts in turmoil.

"Besides…" the brunette kept on, "it´s not like you won´t like the job. You were made for this, and probably you´ll find it will bring you a certain amount of nostalgia." She put her hand over the silver plate, right over the woman´s heart was. "Allow yourself to take a respite among the humans. Let yourself be the one you once were. Because another millennia still awaits, and you don´t know when will you have another chance like this."

At her words, Lightning looked intently at the emerald green of her friend, and after a moment without movement, she gave a few steps away from her comrade, and placed one knee on the ground, bowing her head in front of Lunafreya.

"I accept the duty bestowed upon me, Oracle, I promise you I´ll give my blood and heart to the success of your enterprise. When do you want me to start?"

Luna was surprised to see how easily Gentiana had convinced such a powerful woman to such meaningless choir, but grateful to no extent. So she chose to kneel in front of the pinkette too, both knees on the ground, and took one armored hand with her smallest ones, drawing it near her heart.

"Thank you, dear Goddess! I promise you I´ll make sure you enjoy your stay with us! You shouldn´t worry, the men are already assembling, awaiting your orders."

Lightning´s eyes grew wide at the revelation, and she stood up. The true meaning of the job she had accepted suddenly came hard upon her. How long had it been since she had guided men under her command? Lightning could not recall. More than a millennia, that would be for sure.

"M-my… orders?"

"Yes. Would you like to go out and check them for yourself?"

The smile that formed on Lightning´s lips had never been brightest.

"Yes. I´d like that."

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo

A/N:

I know Gentiana is usually calm, collected, quite the proper Lady during the game, but Shiva, on the other hand, usually seems rather provocative, playful and sexy, in many, oh so many previous FF, and even in this one; so I thought it would be nice to think she wears the mask of the perfect Lady in front of the rest of the world, being strong and collected for Lunafreya, but Luna, and only Luna is the only human that can see the real and playful side of her. Obviously, though, her Asper colleagues know of her real ways, and, since we know Lightning has a knack of drawing people to her who enjoy breaking her bubble… well. Shiva surely adores her, but it doesn´t mean she can´t play with the young Goddess. What do you think? Although the story won´t be centered on their friendship, this was just something I wanted to write about. We´ll be seeing a more relaxing Lightning, though, one that allows herself to take the weight of the world off her shoulders for quite a while. It doesn´t mean, though, there won´t be battle scenes. Quite on the contrary. I just missed Lightning just being a soldier. With the awesomeness added of being a Goddess. Let´s see how that works.

Well, hope you enjoy!

I don´t own Final Fantasy, nor are making any profit out of it.


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